Two additions to my list: A Voyage For Madmen, by Peter Nicholls. The story of the first solo single handed around the world "race". Almost unrecognizable from today's Vendee or Velux or whatever its called now. Fascinating look at a world only forty years ago that is completely gone.

One of the racers was Donald Crowhurst, who went mad during the race and falsified his radio reports to show he was way ahead of his competitators in the southern ocean when he was really just circling the Atlantic (this was way before epirbs, gps, etc. could pinpoint someone's position). Well after the race was over, Crowhurst's boat was found empty, and his logbook showed what really happened to him.

The second book I recommend is a fictional account of a similar race with a Crowhurst-like character: Outerbridge Reach. I read the book years ago and have forgotten the author's name, but reading Voyage for Madmen brought it all back to me.

No help with Hawaii I'm afraid but here are a few additions from my just read list.

James Bisset - Trilogy consisting of Sail Ho, Tramps & Ladies and Commodore. I've only read the first and last, chiefly because they are pretty hard to find and I'm yet to put my hands on a copy of Tramps and Ladies. Might be a tad too British for some of you but a good read nonetheless. Bisset started his career as a cabin boy on a square rigger, graduated to steam, was second officer of the Carpathia during the Titanic schemozzle, did a couple of stints in the Royal Navy then back to Cunard where he skippered the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, retiring in 1946 as Commodore of the Cunard Line.

Richard Maury - Saga of the Cimba. Superb cruisng classic circa 1930s. Pick up boat cheap, rough simple fitout, bugger off from Nova Scotia and out into the South Pacific. The difference with this one is that Maury can actually write. If tales of true seamanship inspire you then grab a copy of Cimba which has been recently re published.

Miles Hordern - Sailing the Pacific. Miles and a friend began their sea life with an old gaff rigged open dory that they sailed from England to France before pitchpoling it and washing up on a French beach much to the surprise of the tourists. Eventually he sailed to New Zealand where he lived for a few years before setting out on a single handed voyage to South America via the Southern Ocean and return by way of the islands. Like Maury, Hordern is a no nonsense author who can actually write an interesting yarn.

I've been following this thread, and occasionally checking with Wooden Boats et als for in stock, prices etc, some of these non-fictions are right up there,

then , a light went on , duh! I went to amazon ,com, started typing in names, found most of these are also available in used, so I started ordering, I have 18 on a list, was able to order 13 of them, including shipping they came to $179. hopefully next month I'll be able to order some more. Once I get these in hand will start the fiction list, I ahve Childers book and several others but this is most likely a non-fiction winter coming up.

Anyhow, check out amazon.com, they make a lot of these a bit easier to get.

He was a quasi fraud? I hadn't heard that. Having read several of his books, I'm curious: what did he lie about, exactly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Tar

It's interesitng that nobody has mentioned Tristan Jones. I don't particularly care for his books though I've read plenty of them. I also read his biography which is better than some of his books. I'm just curious, since he has been outed as a quasi fraud, has his popularity declined? I would think that his work still has some merrit as fiction.

It's a fantastic (Best Seller) true crime story about the murders of a sailing couple in the Line Islands (Palmyra) back in the 1970's. It's not specifically about sailing, but there's plenty of sailing reference and good settings.

If you like murder mysteries, South Pacific islands, and court proceedings, you'll love this book.

He was a quasi fraud? I hadn't heard that. Having read several of his books, I'm curious: what did he lie about, exactly?

Turns out that he made up many of his adventures. Some of the things he claimed to have done just weren't true. I can't remember which ones off the top of my head, but there was a semi-recent (within the past 5 years or so) unauthorized bio published that went into detail. I remember that one of the "big" revalations was that Tristan was gay. I read only one of his books "Yarns", which was a compilation of stories from some of his other books and articles. Very entertaining, but some of the elements of the stories seemed to require feats of endurance and strength that were beyond superhuman, like dragging his boat across miles of mountainous territory in South America.

My choices are;
Jan De Groot No shoes allowed and Gone to come back
These are stories about his life as a charter Captian and the characters he meets, some of the stories are very funny had me laughing out loud.

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